About Us

We are a family run business and have been offering courses since 2000 to families and friends, schools and youth groups.

All of our courses are based on the following three themes;

Discover

We tailor our courses to your requirement having first discussed ‘what you want to do / learn / get out of it’. We do not just make you fit into a pre-planned session of activity. This is as relevant to an introductory sea kayaking course to a school group walking up the mountains looking at glaciation effects.

Our instructors allow you to discover

Yourself – ‘what you can do / achieve’

Community – ‘the benefits of working with others’

New skills

Our environment

Explore

Something man (& woman) have done ever since we stepped out of the first cave and what an area we have here on our doorstep (the Snowdonia National Park, the Isle of Anglesey and the Llyn Peninsular) providing; mountains, lakes, hidden gorges and stunning coastlines.

Whether you are rock climbing on the mountain crags, kayaking on the lakes or around the coastline to sliding down water falls while gorge scrambling the scenery will be breath taking.

Care

The way we look after YOU, our STAFF and our ENVIRONMENT are all equally important to us.

Our operating procedures and risk / benefit assessments for everything we do are freely available to you.

We only use qualified and experienced staff we know who follow our educational approach to outdoor adventure.

The environment we use is natural and outstandingly beautiful but this must be cared for as well, to ensure it is preserved for those that follow you and us. We have adopted the North Wales Outdoor Environmental Charter to show our commitment in how we operate through to caring and protecting this environment. We hope you will join us in this aim.

All of the above are taken into account each time you join us, so go on, it’s time to start your discovery of what we can offer you.

Staff

Gordon Neil

Having had a love of walking and climbing from his teen years Gordon gained the Summer Mountain Leader Award in 1996 while working for the Surrey Youth Service in Epsom running a Duke of Edinburgh Open Award Centre. Gordon is still involved today with the DofE and is a Bronze, Silver & Gold Expedition Assessor.

Following the move to North Wales with it’s wide variety of climbing it wasn’t long until Gordon rekindled his love of the sport. Gordon qualified as a climbing instructor gaining the Single Pitch Award and has completed the Mountain Instructor Award training (MIA).

Gordon then discovered the joy of kayaking and canoeing and spends as much time out either running rivers or sea kayaking around the shores of Anglesey or the Llyn Peninsula.

This interest has seen him exploring the Scottish Slate and Small Isles, the Isle of Skye and the North Eastern coast of Scotland. His furthest trips have taken him across the world to Stewart Island, New Zealand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

He is a British Canoeing (BC) Level III Sea and Level III Inland Kayak coach and a registered guide with the International Sea Kayaking Guide Association (ISKGA)

Gordon also enjoys travelling and has been successfully leading overseas school expeditions for Outlook Expeditions for over 10 years. His expeditions have seen his teams summiting peaks in Central & Southern America (Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru..), Morocco and Borneo to undertaking project work building houses, renovating play areas and building tourist trails.

Gordon has now discovered the underwater world of scuba diving and holds the PADI Master Scuba Diver Award.

Karen Neil

Ullapool island exploring

A qualified nurse Karen has worked in most aspects of health care both hospital and community.

Karen will usually be your first point of contact with us, dealing with the majority of bookings / enquiries and deals with the day to day running of the business.

Karen has joined me discovering the joys of travelling, and especially loves getting into the non touristy places. Our trips have included Morocco, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.

Karen has finally given in and started kayaking with me (on appropriate days and weather) and loving it.

Instructors

All our instructors are selected due to their professionalism, enthusiasm for the outdoors and the ability they have to take you into their special environments and allow you to experience the magic yourself.

They all hold as a minimum the relative National Governing Body award for their specific sport * (the majority holding higher awards), an up to date First Aid certificate and have all been through the enhanced Disclosure and Barring System check procedure.

Andy Collins – (SML, BC Level 2 Kayak & Canoe instructor) recently left the Royal Air Force where he was a physical training instructor for the last 15 years. He now runs his own personal fitness programme / gym locally if not out exploring and maintaining his own fitness.

Andy Pearce – (SML, WML, SPA, BC Level 2 Kayak & Canoe instructor).

Simon Verspeak – (MIC, IML, BC Level 3 Inland Kayak and Level 2 Canoe instructor), a student of Bangor University, he has always enthused about the outdoors. Simon is a deadicated focused professional who is continually striving to enhance his skills.

Simon works throughout the UK and overseas leadings expeditions to a variety of mountain ranges.